Aces on Bridge

This week we are looking at deals in which we must maximize our tricks in a suit where we have length facing a singleton. In each case, the question of which finesse to take, if any, is paramount.

In today’s deal, we reach three no-trump on a club lead and put up the queen so as to remain in dummy and go after diamonds. Should we plan to lead to the nine, jack or king? Our target is to play the suit for two losers if possible.

When the suit is 3-3, we have a blind guess as to which finesse to take. There are roughly equal numbers of winning positions where it is right to play the king, jack or nine, so let’s not expend any mental energy on these positions, but simply hope that fortune favors the prepared mind.

If the suit is 4-2, the one combination we can be sure to pick up is the doubleton 10. We will lead to either the king or jack and follow with the higher honor, squashing the 10. So, our first play must be to an honor — and note that the doubleton ace or queen to our left is a position that we cannot exploit, even if we guess well.

Since we can deal with a doubleton 10 in either hand, we must look for other doubleton honors we can exploit. And the answer is that the only holding where our play matters is when East holds the doubleton queen. In that case, we must lead to the jack, then follow with the king if we want to play the suit for two losers. Low to the jack is the right play.